Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met with Cuban president Fidel Castro Ruz on Jan. 15 during a 24-hour visit to Cuba and met twice with interim president Raul Castro, who has headed the government since the summer of… Read moreLula shows Fidel the “love”
Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on a visit to Colombia Jan. 18 that the US is concerned about a Venezuelan military buildup, pointing to “what Mr. Chávez has done militarily in recent years and… Read moreChávez arming Colombian guerillas?
In the wake of his successful negotiation of the release of two hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has launched an initiative for the FARC and its junior counterpart, the National Liberation… Read moreFARC: “terrorists” or “belligerents”?
Two dozen heavily armed special police from the Venezuelan Interior Ministry searched the Hebraica community center in Caracas last month, ostensibly looking for weapons or evidence of “subversive activity.” There were no arrests or seizure of property. The Venezuelan Jewish… Read moreAnti-Semitism in Venezuela —again?
Tijuana Cartel gunmen and fought a three-hour battle with Mexican federal police and army troops in the border city Jan. 17, using machine guns and grenades and firing on a helicopter. One gunman was killed and four police officers were… Read moreCartel wars rock Tijuana
Local Oaxaca activist Simon Sedillo in a Jan. 15 report that appears on the Enemigo Comun blog: On January 15th, 2007, before the beginning of a youth march for the liberation of political prisoners, Urban Paramilitaries (porros) initiated a series… Read moreOaxaca: paramilitaries attack university
Israel’s decision to completely seal off Gaza Strip crossings has intensified the suffering and privation faced by Gaza residents. Gaza hospitals say they are forced to bury Palestinians killed in IDF strikes draped in flags and bed sheets because of… Read moreGaza under siege —again
A woman carried out a suicide bombing near a Shi’ite mosque in Iraq’s Diyala province Jan. 16, killing at least eight people. The attack provoked local Shi’ite militia fighters to use mortars against a nearby Sunni village in retaliation. Shi’ite… Read moreAshura terror in Iraq
Hundreds of Islamic militants armed with mortars and rocket-launchers overran a fort at Sararogha, in Pakistan’s tribal borderlands Jan. 15, killing some 20 paramilitary troops of the South Waziristan Scouts and taking several more captive. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (Taliban Movement… Read moreNATO to intervene in Pakistan?
From Amnesty International, Jan. 15: Iran: Death by stoning, a grotesque and unacceptable penalty As nine women and two men in Iran wait to be stoned to death, Amnesty International today called on the Iranian authorities to abolish death by… Read moreAmnesty International protests stoning in Iran
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Jan. 16 he believes NATO forces currently deployed in southern Afghanistan “don’t know how to do counterinsurgency operations.” Most of the NATO troops in the south are British, Canadian and Dutch, while those in… Read moreCanadian death toll hits 78 in Afghanistan
In a victory for Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda after weeks of bitter partisan struggle, Japan’s Diet Jan. 11 approved legislation reauthorizing the naval refueling mission that the Self-Defense Forces launched in 2001 in support of US-led military operations in Afghanistan…. Read moreJapan returns to Afghan mission
